A redevelopment project co-financed by the ERDF in the commune of Sète (France) aims to mitigate erosion which threatens the site. The fund contributes to projects on sensitive issues in the area by the Mediterranean, such as maritime pollution and sustainable tourism. EURACTIV.fr reports.

After their failure to influence the Lima conference last year, towns and cities are working to make their voices heard on the climate action agenda, a parallel initiative to the official Paris agreement. EURACTIV France reports.

SPECIAL REPORT / South Africa’s economic capital wants to develop an ambitious climate strategy, following in the footsteps of Paris, the first French city to adopt a similar strategy in 2007. EURACTIV France reports.

SPECIAL REPORT / Local authorities are raising the pressure on national governments to increase their CO2 emissions reduction targets. But they are struggling to make their voice heard at the international climate negotiations. EURACTIV France reports.

European regions in the United Kingdom, France, and Ireland are world leaders in pioneering ocean energy, but risk losing that status to international competitors, unless public support for the technology is stepped up.

Cities and regions are leading the fight against global warming, calling for the EU to be zero carbon by 2050, as world leaders prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) in November.

Cleaner transport has helped reduce the ecological footprint of the Île-de-France region over the last decade, but housing and food are two energy intensive sectors where little has changed. Journal de l'Environnement reports.

EXCLUSIVE/ Thousands of cities signing up to the new Covenant of Mayors tomorrow (15 October) will submit reports on their vulnerability to climate change to the European Commission every two years - but are under no obligation to make the information public.

Regions and cities are often the driving force behind climate action. Annabelle Jaeger told EURACTIV France that protecting nature directly benefits local authorities, as it keeps them attractive and helps them meet their climate commitments.

The projects Germany is pursuing within the framework of the European Commission's €315 billion Investment offensive include outdated ideas and dead ends, says Peter Friedrich, Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Minister for Europe. The list, he says, urgently needs a general reworking, otherwise regions and municipalities will lose out.

Northern European regions are in the lead when it comes to innovation in Europe. But there is a considerable diversity in regional innovation performance not only across European countries, but also within the member states, according to the European Commission's Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2012, published today (7 November).

Cohesion Policy will be the main public investment instrument for Greece in the foreseeable future, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn told Greek regional governors in Athens. EURACTIV Greece contributed reporting for this article.

It is too simplistic to propose that a region could simply remain in the European Union after seceding from its EU member state and that the ‘evaporation theory’ of Belgium's New Flemish Alliance cannot adequately grasp all the political and legal problems which such a scenario would entail, say Guillaume Van der Loo and Merijn Chamon.

There are still significant economic disparities within the EU, such as the ones between North and South or among different EU regions. But EU member states have a common interest in tackling those challenges together, argues Rodi Kratsa-Tsagapopoulou.

The European crisis has exposed the financial fragility of the EU's regions and municipalities, which in turn is a reflection of these countries' economic vulnerability. The crisis has also laid bare the disparities between regions and threatens to destroy the solidarity that unites the different regions of a state, argues Stratfor.